Congratulations! You made it! You survived and excelled in your student teaching. You are now a science teacher! If you would, take a few minutes to share your wisdom about how to negotiate this difficult year with the students who are following in your footsteps by answering the following questions.
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
Pay special attention to your CT's routine during the fall observations before student teaching. If you know the routine CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT will go a lot smoother.
Have your lessons plans be thoroughly thought out, down to each detail of what you will say, what questions you might ask the students.This will prepare you for student teaching to make sure each objective is reached and understood by the students.
Make sure to have a copy of your CT's classroom management plan and know it like the back of your hand before student teaching. This can prevent students from taking advantage of you because you will already know what IS and IS NOT allowed during class time.
Always having the classroom management plan handy isn't a bad idea either because at least you will have something to refer to if you are unsure how to address a student's behavior. Better to take a few moments checking something out than ignoring a situation because you are usure what to do.
This is why it's important to pay CLOSE attention to how your CT addresses class and acts throughout down to every detail.
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT- I can't say enough how important it is to know how to manage and prevent student misbehavior. Even the most well-planned lesson will go poorly, if the whole class time is spent trying to keep each student on task. Again, observe how your CT controls student behavior and keeps students on task, and take notes of this during the fall practicum before you have to go in and do it yourself.
UNIT PLAN/LESSON PLANS- Make all handouts, quizzes, simulations, etc. before student teaching. That way if you use your UNIT PLAN you will have them and you can focus on classroom management or if you don't use them they can be used by other teachers of for future lessons when you have your own class.
Unpacking the GSEs- When writing the lesson plans unpacking the GSEs that were going to be used for each lesson really gave me support in knowing that I wasn't just teaching the class whatever I felt like. At the beginning and ending of each class I would discuss the objectives, which were pieces of the GSE re-stated, so I felt confident I was teaching relevant knowledge, and the students knew the purpose of the lesson and how they were going to reach it. Even if the lesson plans from the fall Unit Plan aren't used, lots of practice in unpacking the standards helps in knowing how you are going to achieve a goal and teach a particular topic.
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have done a better job during student teaching if I had ...."
Been more analytical of my CT's daily routine
Memorized the classroom management plan
More than 7 weeks in each placement
Created fully written out daily lesson plans even if they weren't the ones from the UNIT PLAN during fall practicum
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
You WILL almost certainly have a bad day (if not several) but you must remember that these are the days where you learn the most from and improve because you will try harder not to repeat them!
Student teaching does NOT necessarily define the type of teacher you will be. If it was a bad experience then DO NOT give up. People should want to be teachers to improve students' learning experiences and giving up because of one bad experience is giving up on that chance to improve their lives.
BE FLEXIBLE, but NOT a doormat. Listen to your students' requests, but don't let them walk all over you, which is why it's super important to have a well-thought out classroom management plan. It must be fair to YOU and the STUDENTS.
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have done a better job during student teaching if I had ...."
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?